SAN DIEGO -- He's one of the first players on the practice field and one of the last to leave, and as reliable as the sun rising in the East on a cloudless San Diego day.
In a season in which a seemingly endless rash of injuries forced the San Diego Chargers to juggle their starting lineup each week, receiver Dontrelle Inman has been a constant and reliable target for Philip Rivers.
"If you want one quality, you want them to have dependability," Rivers said. "Dontrelle is a good player. He makes plays. He runs good routes and does those things. But his thing is he's dependable. You can count on him to run the right route, play any position and do his job every day."
For the past decade, tight end Antonio Gates has been Rivers' go-to pass catcher on game days. However, it's Inman who leads San Diego's skill position group in snaps with 649 through 11 games.
Rivers can count on Inman to execute a play just the way offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt drew it up on game week, at the proper depth and with the right pace -- and when the ball gets there, more times than not Inman makes the catch.
"Win at the line of scrimmage, separate at the top and make the tough catches," Inman said, asked about the keys to his success in the NFL. "If you do those three things as a receiver, you can be mediocre and you still can play in this league."
According to ESPN Stats & Information, Inman has just one drop on the year with 58 targets. Inman's totaled 38 receptions for 527 receiving yards and two touchdowns this season.
Last week against the Houston Texans, Inman finished with six receptions for 119 yards, including a 52-yard touchdown catch on a double move.
Before the season really got going, the Chargers lost their top two targets because of knee injuries in Keenan Allen and Stevie Johnson. Travis Benjamin and Tyrell Williams have been playing banged up most of the year. Inman has proved to be San Diego's most durable and dependable pass-catching target.
The third-year pro developed into a standout receiver in the CFL and brought that workmanlike-approach to the Chargers.
"He was a guy when given the opportunity to move here from the CFL, he wasn't going to miss out," Chargers head coach Mike McCoy said. "He was going to do everything he could -- whatever we asked him to do, that's what he was going to do.
"Dontrelle is someone that is going to try and do everything how you ask him to do it. I know Philip's got a lot of trust in him. He's that guy you can count on."
Here's a closer look at the snap counts for the Chargers in their 21-13 win over the Houston Texans in Week 12:
OFFENSE (Based on 56 snaps)
Quarterback: Philip Rivers 56
Running back: Melvin Gordon 51, Derek Watt 6, Kenneth Farrow 5
Wide receiver: Dontrelle Inman 53, Tyrell Williams 49, Travis Benjamin 37, Jeremy Butler 2
Tight end: Antonio Gates 35, Hunter Henry 28, Sean McGrath 12
Offensive line: Matt Slauson 56, D.J. Fluker 56, King Dunlap 56, Orlando Franklin 56, Joe Barksdale 56, Kenny Wiggins 2
Offensive analysis: Rivers threw for three touchdowns in a game for the 48th time in his NFL career, which ranks fifth since he entered the league in 2004. ... Williams has scored a touchdown in the last three games. ... After starting the season 1-4, the Chargers have won four of their last six games. ... The Chargers have won seven of their last eight games against AFC South teams.
DEFENSE (Based on 69 snaps)
Line: Joey Bosa 56, Corey Liuget 42, Joey Bosa 35, Damion Square 39, Tenny Palepoi 19, Darius Philon 12
Linebacker: Korey Toomer 67, Melvin Ingram 63, Denzel Perryman 43, Kyle Emanuel 35, Jeremiah Attaochu 17, Chris Landrum 15, Tourek Williams 2
Secondary: Dwight Lowery 69, Casey Hayward 67, Craig Mager 67, Jahleel Addae 65, Trevor Williams 53, Adrian Phillips 27, Dexter McCoil 1
Defensive analysis: San Diego has at least one takeaway in each game this season, scoring 65 points off the team's 23 turnovers forced. ... Playing in his hometown of Houston for the first time, Square got his first sack and first tackle for loss this season. ... Lowery corralled his first interception of 2016 and 17th in his career. He also finished with a forced fumble.
